For the first time ever, two teams from the same city face off in the UEFA Women's Champions League as the current European Champions, Arsenal, host the perennial WSL Champions, Chelsea, who are still looking for their first UEFA Women's Champions League trophy.
It's the first time in over a decade that the Gunners will face English opposition in the Champions League, the last time being a 3-0 aggregate defeat to Birmingham City in 2013/14.
Chelsea face English opposition for the second season in a row, with three first-half goals turning around a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 aggregate win against Manchester City.
The Blues have also not lost on their last two visits to the Emirates Stadium, winning 2-1 in 2024 and drawing 1-1 in November 2025.
Following their brilliant 5-0 win over West Ham in the WSL on Saturday, Renée Slegers made three changes for tonight's quarter-final, with Emily Fox and Katie McCabe replacing Smilia Holmberg and Taylor Hinds in the back four, while Beth Mead came in for Olivia Smith. Mead scored the opener in the Gunners' 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge back in January.
Chloe Kelly also retained her spot in the starting 11 following her hat-trick against West Ham.
Arsenal line-up:
Anneke Borbe; Emily Fox, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Laia Codina (45), Katie McCabe; Kim Little (C), Mariona Caldentey (90); Alessia Russo, Beth Mead (77), Chloe Kelly (60), Stina Blackstenius (77)
Substitutes:
Barbora Votikova, Daphne Van Domselaar; Smilla Holmberg (77), Sophie Harwood, Taylor Hinds (45); Frida Maanum (77), Victoria Pelova (90); Olivia Smith (60).
With only eight players involved in open training for Chelsea on Monday, there were always going to be players missing for the Blues, and Sonia Bompastor has made five changes to the team that drew 1-1 away at London City on Saturday.
Naomi Girma replaces 17-year-old Chloe Sarwie in the back-line, having also rested them at the weekend. Keira Walsh, Sandy Baltimore, Lucy Bronze, and Lauren James all come into the starting 11.
Aggie Beever-Jones is missing from the squad completely after she felt discomfort in the London City game.
The ongoing issues mean that Chelsea named five players on the bench aged 20 years old or younger.
One boost for the Blues is that Ellie Carpenter is back in the squad following a month away as Australia made it all the way to the Women's Asian Cup Final, losing 1-0 to Japan courtesy of a goal from a former Chelsea player in Maika Hamano.
Chelsea line-up:
Hannah Hampton; Naomi Girma (56), Veerle Buurman, Kadeisha Buchanan; Sjoeke Nusken, Erin Cuthbert (83), Keira Walsh, Sandy Baltimore, Lucy Bronze; Alyssa Thompson, Lauren James.
Substitutes:
Livia Peng; Rebecca Spencer, Ellie Carpenter; Alexia Potter, Chloe Sarwie, Gabriella Storey, Wieke Kaptein (83); Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (56), Lois Shooter
Chelsea had the first big opportunity of the game, five minutes in, through their speedy forward Alyssa Thompson, the American racing down the right flank and getting a shot away, which deflected off Lotte Wubben-Moy and hit the inside of the post. Luckily for Anneke Borbe, the ball bounced away from goal rather than in.
The Blues hit the same inside post again just two minutes later when Lauren James raced past Wubben-Moy, but her effort had the same fate as Thompson's strike just moments earlier, striking the woodwork and bouncing away from goal.
The speedy duo was causing a lot of issues on the counter for the Arsenal backline, and Thompson was racing down the right again, pulling the ball back, but Kim Little was there to stop the ball from reaching Sjoeke Nusken.
Arsenal had their first big chance of the game in the 17th minute when Stina Blackstenius managed to find a way past defender Kadeisha Buchanan, but the Swede's effort was well saved by Hannah Hampton.
Interestingly, of the three games that Bompastor's side has conceded during the League Phase, they had gone behind in two of those (FC Twente and Wolfsburg).
They were behind again on 21 minutes when a superb free kick from Katie McCabe was headed downwards, and into the bottom left corner by Blackstenius. It was her first goal in the Champions League since she scored the winner in the final against Barcelona.
Lauren James was given the first booking of the evening by Romanian referee Alina Pesu for a pull-back on the goalscorer Blackstenius.
The Gunners were beginning to dominate the ball, Alessia Russo playing the ball from wide right to the penalty spot where Blackstenius was waiting once more, though this time her effort was comfortably stopped by Hampton.
Arsenal doubled their lead on the half-hour mark, and when you need a player for the big occasions, Chloe Kelly is that someone. She picked up the ball for about 25 yards out and curled her effort into the bottom right-hand corner. Her Lionesses teammate in goal saw the ball fly past before she could even dive.
Despite dominating the opening parts of the game, Chelsea were in real trouble of losing control of this quarter-final tie already. They could sense that by immediately calling a team huddle while the Gunners celebrated their second goal.
They had an opportunity when Laia Codina was shown a yellow card for a tackle on Nusken, but the free kick was put straight out of play by Arsenal.
The Blues looked to respond immediately when a ball over the top gave James some space to run into, but her cross was blocked out for a corner by Wubben-Moy. The following set-piece from Cuthbert was easily cleared by Arsenal.
Chelsea thought they'd found a goal back in the tie when Borbe missed the free-kick from Sandy Baltimore completely, allowing Dutch defender Veerle Buurman to put it into the net, though it was disallowed on-field for handball, a decision that VAR agreed with.
The away side were dominating possession once more, and had another decent chance from a set-piece when Erin Cuthbert put in a fantastic corner from the left, but Lucy Bronze was unable to get any good contact on the ball, and it spun out for a goal-kick.
Arsenal were happy to play the ball around the back for the last couple of minutes of an additional four minutes in the first half's added time.
The Gunners tried one more attack forward, but Cuthbert saw the ball out ahead of Mariona Caldentey. Renee Slegers' side went into the break with a commanding 2-0 advantage.
Arsenal made a change at half-time, with Taylor Hinds replacing Laia Codina, who was on a yellow card after the first 45 minutes.
The Gunners had the first chance of the second half, Russo's shot comfortably saved by Hampton.
Lotte Wubben-Moy was starting to get the better of her matchup against Lauren James, putting in a brilliant sliding challenge to deny the England forward from breaking through.
A piece of wonderful footwork and hold-up play from Alessia Russo allowed her to turn Keira Walsh and get a shot at goal, but it was pushed away from goal yet again by Hannah Hampton.
Sonia Bompastor sensed that her team needed some sort of attacking spark, so she prepared Johanna Rytting Kaneryd to come on for Naomi Girma in the 57th minute. Taking off a centre back for a winger showed clear signs of trying to be more attacking.
The Swedish forward had already recorded five goal contributions in six games across the League Phase.
Arsenal made an attacking change of their own, with goalscorer Chloe Kelly coming off for Olivia Smith in the 60th minute. The Canadian was in red-hot form herself, with five goals in the last seven games. Smith also scored in the first leg of Arsenal's 7-1 win in the Round of 16 against Belgian side OH Leuven.
Despite Chelsea pushing for the goal to give them a foothold in the tie, Arsenal were defending brilliantly.
That was until a piece of magic from Lauren James gave Chelsea that spark they so desperately needed. The ball was cleared from a corner to James, who took one touch and casually curled her effort into the top left corner with her weaker foot.
It was another magical moment from a world-class forward, and it was exactly what Chelsea had needed because Arsenal had not really given any clear-cut efforts away in the second half at all.
With Chelsea pushing hard for the equaliser in the tie, Arsenal were beginning to find spaces in behind, and the Champions League's top scorer restored their two-goal advantage. Blackstenius found Russo, who flicked the ball up ever so slightly, and with her second touch, drilled the ball into the bottom left corner.
It was a strike fitting of a record-breaking moment, as Alessia Russo's eighth goal of the competition this season was the most goals scored in the Women's Champions League by an English player in a single season.
The Gunners immediately made a double change with Blackstenius and Beth Mead being replaced by Frida Maanum and Smilla Holmberg.
Bompastor turned to some experienced youth to try and at least narrow the advantage with nine minutes plus added time to play, skipper Erin Cuthbert coming off for 20-year-old Dutch midfielder Wieke Kaptein.
Arsenal had three minutes to try and protect their crucial two-goal lead in the tie, but Chelsea once again thought they had scored from a set-piece, but Buchanan appeared to have fouled Borbe before the ball went into the net.
The Gunners had one final chance to try and get a fourth goal that would give them a huge lead heading to West London next Wednesday. It was held up and played across the goal by Russo, but Wubben-Moy was unable to get any proper contact on the shot.
Nevertheless, Arsenal's 10th win in a row in all competitions was a vital one, and they took a giant step towards back-to-back Champions League semi-finals by managing to hold on to that two-goal lead.
The Gunners had a fourth London Derby in a row to turn their attention to, with the North London Derby at the Emirates on Saturday the prime focus, before the second leg in West London on Wednesday, April 1st.
Chelsea will still believe they have a chance to overturn the tie, as they did at this stage against Manchester City a year ago, but Arsenal have the attacking power to really take the tie away from them. An exciting prospect is in store for us next week.